Thank you for an amazing Sappyfest!!!
Sappyfest is what we make of it together. We all hold this up together - like a crowd surfer! It can seem so improbable, year after year. It can all feel so lucky, but it’s not luck, it’s the result of a lot of people saying yes to this idea, that we can come together and listen to each other, that we can gather here in this place, this beloved nowhere, and we can connect with each other, and we can connect with great and inspiring music and art and ideas. I am in the privileged position of hearing those yeses first hand, a beautiful, collective sound, like the singing of a choir!
An incredible and echoing thank you to everyone who volunteered with Sappyfest this year. Thank you for ensuring that the weekend ran smoothly and safely. Thank you for taking responsibility for making this peculiar swamp magic possible. Some of you worked far too hard. We see you and we love you and we thank you.
Thank you to the artists, musicians, and performers who come here, often for very little money, out of a belief in this project. We love your songs, your sounds, your ideas, your movement, your art. You challenge us and fortify us and inspire us.
Sappyfest is a not-for-profit, volunteer led organization. We operate without corporate investment or interests of any kind. We receive some financial support from public sources (more on this below), but rely to a great extent on ticket sales to fund this festival, to bring these artists here, to raise the stage. Thank you for buying passes, for buying Sappyfest t-shirts and hats, for buying your summer beverages in the beer tent. Money has no heart, but it’s still the necessary method of exchange in this world. Thank you to everyone who supports Sappyfest in this way!
Thank you to the The Town of Sackville for welcoming and supporting this event, here, in the very centre. Thank you to Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Centre, Mount Allison University, Owens Art Gallery, and CHMA-FM 106.9 for your partnership and encouragement, and for your ongoing work in the cultural life of this place.
Thank you to the Black Duck Café for the festival office space and your fine strong coffee. Thank you to Terra Beata Cranberries for much needed infrastructure help and for adding a big white cube to the Sackville skyline. Thank you to Hounds Of Vintage and Payzant Home Hardware for your important and welcomed contributions to Sappyfest. Thank you to the Rotary Club of Sackville for their sponsorship of the Kids Corner Power Jam and their assistance in raising the next generation of artists and rockers.
Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des Arts du Canada, The Government of Canada, The Province of New Brunswick, and the Province of Quebec, for your support of Sappyfest. Art is the true measure of a place, and you have made this place and the people that have come here better through your support.
Sappyfest can feel like an impossible dream, but it’s a dream that we make happen together. It is an affirmation of connection, of group effort, of music and art. Thank you to everyone who holds Sappyfest up.
YES!
Photograph by Niko Stratis.